Revival Conference 2007 - Dean Taylor - Part 2

And he sought the Lord. But as soon as they did this, as soon as Asa did this and made these little changes in his life, a big test came his way. And this happens to us as well. How many can testify to that? As soon as you get yourself wanting to turn to God, God brings a big test. And here's what happened to the entire of Judah right here. So there they are starting to have reformation in their life, getting things taken care of, getting rid of false gods, and God sent this or this army came in verse 9. And we see that coming out of Ethiopia, somebody came up and told Asa, there is a million-man army from Ethiopia with 300 chariots coming against us. What are you going to do? Fortunately, he had already started to get his life together. He had already started turning to God. And so he had something to build on there. But instead of doing this in his own strength, notice what he did, because it's absolutely essential if we're going to understand revival in these other different ways. It says here in verse 9, it tells us about the million-man army. And in verse 10, Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in a ray in the valley. Look at verse 11. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said, Oh, note these words. It is nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee. Notice this. And in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God. Let not man prevail against thee, so the Lord smote the Ethiopians. There it is. He didn't see his own strength. He didn't try to rest into something that he had, but he knew that he had no power apart from God. Well, as they were coming back from this little victory there, God sent a prophet to Asa, just in case Asa was able to take that minute where he destroyed those Ethiopians, and just in case he was able to take the victory to himself, a prophet came to him and said this to him. Asa, 2 Chronicles chapter 15, verse 2. And said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah, and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you be with him. And if ye seek him, he will be found of you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Now that's an impressive verse, isn't it? You know, God does not want to give us something that we can just put into our pocket, and then we can walk away from him and forget about it. I love this writing by Evan Hopkins, who was one of the main writers in the Keswick people, the Keswick movement. And he said, he gave this analogy of a candle in a dark room, but this room was completely dark. And Evan Hopkins says there that if I was to light this candle, and then I'm going to tell you I'm going to blow this candle out, and every one of you hold on to the light. You can't. But your illuminating source of light comes from the presence of that light. And the same it is with God. God wants our power and our source continually to be resting upon him. And that's a key. And that's why the prophet went to Asa and said, as long as you're with us, as long as you're with God, then he'll be with you. But if you forsake him, he's going to let you walk off. He's going to let you go try it in your own way. He's going to let you to try these things. Why? How shall you escape if you neglect so great a salvation? This is what he's saying. So he goes on. Asa gets excited. And this is when revival came. And it says here that he called the people together, looking over. We're in chapter 15, verse 7 there. And another prophet, and he goes and talks to them, and tells them to be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. He gave a promise to them in verse 8. And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy, he goes on to say that he gathered all Israel together. And looking down verse 9. And they gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon. And they fell to him in Israel in abundance. When they saw the Lord was with them, different ones came over with him. So they gathered themselves together in Jerusalem in the third month in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the Lord the same time of the spoil which they had brought. And they offered to him 7,000 sheep and 700 oxen. The blood sacrifice there. We just want to worship the Lord. And there was great joy. Now the people repented of their sin. They turned from their idols. They destroyed these asteroths and these things that were in their way. And they turned to worshiping God in a blood sacrifice. And here they made this covenant to seek the Lord. They got excited. I think perhaps a little too excited as you read this verse 12. And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their souls, that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they swear unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath. And they rejoiced and praised the Lord there. It even says that his mother had her own personal asteroth there. And it says there in verse 16, verse 16 there, look at that. And it says, and it took the mother of Asa the king and removed her from her being queen because she had made an idol in the grove. And Asa cut it down. And Asa cut down her idol and stamped on it and burned it in the book of Kidron. He stamped on those idols, even one that was in his own family. You know, sometimes God wants to bring something in our life. But sometimes even our family ties can be something that needs to be stamped on. There's some bondage there that's there. Looking at that, there's one thing that he goes on and it makes us wonder. When did it ever end? And as Asa went on, as strong and as powerful as he saw God move in his people in there, in the next chapter, he started to get strong. He started to rest in those things. He started to have all the riches and the abundance of the spoils of war and the different things of war. And then he started to rest on his accomplishments. Do you remember that quote from Leonard Ravenhill? That we are in grave danger when we allow our accomplishments become the source of our confidence. And that's what happened. He had an accomplishment, but then he allowed that to be his confidence. And he got into this little battle with the king of Israel. And instead of trusting in the Lord, he went and trusted in his own money. And he went and actually got treasures out of the house of Israel and came to the king of Syria and made a league with them to go kill them. To kill the nation, the kingdom, the army that's coming from Israel. The army that's coming from the northern tribes there. Took the very treasures and gave it to him. So, God sent another prophet and rebuked him that. He said, wasn't it enough? Didn't you see the mercies of God and the wondering workings of God when you saw him destroy the Ethiopians? Didn't you see the miracles of God? And now you do this? He gave this wonderful scripture to him. It's a scripture of God.